"Behind the stars", the dark side of Italian catering

In an age like ours, where appearing is a biblical commandment, Valerio Massimo Visintin prefers to remain hidden from prying eyes as much as possible . On public occasions he shows himself - so to speak - hidden by balaclava, glasses and hat , so much so that he has been nicknamed the "masked critic ". When he goes to restaurants – his place of work since he deals with gastronomy – he does it incognito, paying out of his own pocket, so as to be free in judgements. A freedom that has made him feared, respected and sometimes even resented in the world of local restaurants.

A world which, with its distortions and dark sides, is at the center of the volume " Behind the stars " (Mondadori, 2022, pp. 156, also e-book), where the stars mentioned in the title are naturally the prestigious emblem of Michelin Guide .

Indeed, Visintin shows us that not all that glitters is gold . Behind the frankly excessive popularity of the great chefs and the mantra that Italian cuisine is always on the crest of a wave, we find ourselves in a world on the verge of a crisis…and not just nerves. A world, that of local catering, where the economic accounts often don't add up, even in starred restaurants. A world where club openings are often the result of improvisation .

Visintin, on the other hand, does not hesitate to describe a sick system , in which a local often resists for just over a year and in which criminal interests are all too present. Above all, the Corriere della Sera critic does not give up on flogging the villains of Italian catering. The proximity, which almost naturally turns into complicity and conflicts of interest, between chefs, journalists, food bloggers and influencers of all kinds. Then emerge mechanisms based on the exchange of favors , with sponsors, restaurant owners and chefs who go hand in hand with the media. All to the detriment of a true gastronomic critic, now disappeared in favor of the journalist-megaphone of this or that press office.

Visintin, on the other hand, does not abandon the idea that a very wide gap must divide the operators of the catering sector and those who have the task of evaluating their work in the name of an indispensable maxim: "You cook for the benefit of the customers, you write to the of readers". For this reason, in the book you will find absolute rarities in the current information landscape: negative judgments . Straightforward, precise, well-argued, perhaps not always acceptable, but always understandable because Visintin has the advantage of writing well and getting straight to the point. And together with the reviews, many curiosities in the form of answers to some questions that we may have asked ourselves, without finding an answer: How much does a starred restaurant really earn? Why do entrepreneurs in the sector complain about the lack of personnel? How does food criticism work and what are the secrets of the famous Michelin Guide? Visintin does not shy away from these questions, on the contrary.